MSI MAG X870E Tomahawk MAX WIFI Review – The Best Mainstream X870E Board Is Now Even Better

Conclusion - The Perfect Value-Oriented X870E All-Rounder

Recently, we have been testing a range of new AM5 refresh motherboards from various companies. MSI has its own soft refresh in the form of the new "MAX" series, and the first of its motherboards that we've on our test bed is the MAG X870E Tomahawk MAX WIFI.

The MSI MAG X870E Tomahawk MAX WIFI retains mostly the same specifications as the previous X870E Tomahawk design. Some minor changes include the new OC Engine which adds an external BCLK chipset for enhanced overclocking support, a new PinSafe Design on the backside of the PCB, and a bigger 64MB BIOS. Another change is the slightly modified power delivery which is the same amount at 14+2+1 VRMs but with different controllers, leading to slightly better operation. There is also an updated color scheme which is now all-black with a few silver hints, a major uplift over the lime green colors used on the last offering.

Overall, the MSI MAG X870E Tomahawk MAX WIFI is still the solid Tomahawk, designed for AM5 platforms and supporting the latest generation of AMD Ryzen CPUs. We had no trouble running fast memory and the top Ryzen 9 9950X CPU on this motherboard. The 64 MB BIOS would make upgrading to the newest firmware easier, and we should also expect great support once the new Ryzen "Zen 6" CPUs land next year.

• 4x USB 2.0 (Rear)
• 4x USB 2.0 (Front)
• 3x USB 5Gbps Type A (Rear)
• 4x USB 5Gbps Type A (Front)
• 2x USB 10Gbps Type A (Rear)
• 1x USB 10Gbps Type C (Rear)
• 1x USB 20Gbps Type C (Front)
• 2x USB 40Gbps Type C (Rear)

Besides that, the motherboard has an ample array of IO capabilities with three full-length PCIe slots, including a Gen5 x16 design with EZ PCIe release, four M.2 slots, including two Gen5x4 with EZ M.2 release design, 21 USB ports, the ever-useful DEBUG LED and DEBUG post code panel, and more. The 5GbE LAN with WIFI 7 and BT 5.4 support is also great.

Things I liked about the MSI MAG X870E Tomahawk MAX WIFI motherboard:

• Solid Performance & Features at a solid price
• Good VRM design with a decent cooling solution
• 256 GB Memory Support with up to 8400 MT/s
• Great Color scheme with a black and silver theme
• Dual Gen5 M.2 slots + 1 PCIe Gen5 x16 slot
• All M.2 slots are Frozr cooled
• EZ Release design for PCIe & M.2 adds user-friendliness
• 5GbE + WIFI7 + BT 5.4 combo for networking (wired+wireless)
• 21 USB ports, including dual USB4
• BCLK OC Engine is a step up for mainstream overclockers
• 64 MB Large BIOS paves the way for future Ryzen firmware updates

MSI's MAG Tomahawk series motherboards are highly acclaimed for their top-notch feature set at a great value proposition. With the MAX series, MSI has further raised the bar of its top X870E MAG Tomahawk offering with a nice set of updates, and that too at a very similar price point as the previous entry. This is a well-deserved purchase that will fit the needs of any PC builder with an ample amount of IO support without breaking your wallet.

You can find additional information about our hardware review process and ethics policy here.

Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.